Low voltage lighting is used within commercial and domestic environments, usually to produce lighting effects. Typically, low voltage lighting units consist of fixed assembled structures that are positioned and wired within the area required to be lit. Once positioned, the lighting units are stationary and rarely re-positioned.
Attempts have been made to make low voltage lighting units more flexible by providing for movement of lighting units relative to a supply of electricity.
DE 19826530 describes a lighting unit in which a low voltage lamp is slidably mounted on a rail. The supply of electricity is arranged such that the lamp is supplied with electricity at any position on the rail. Once a user has decided on the desired location of the lamp, the lamp is held in place by magnetic attraction between a magnet arrangement in the lamp assembly and the rail.
DE 4014818 describes a low voltage lighting system comprising parallel conductor rails, which supports one or more lamps and feeds electricity to them. The lamps can be moved along the rails and are held in place by a bar-magnet, which also forms an electrical contact.
Another lighting device is described in French patent application no 2,836,985. The lighting device of this patent comprises a lighting element mounted between an electrically conductive transparent surface and another electrically conductive surface. Electricity from the respective electrically conductive surfaces power the lighting element mounted therebetween. The lighting element includes two contacts each in electrical connection with one of the said electrically conductive surfaces. One of the contacts consists of a brush contact filament. The lighting element includes at least one magnet situated substantially adjacent to a backing plate. The lighting unit is held in place by a magnet aligned with the magnet of the lighting element, but on the other side of the backing plate. The lighting element may be moved by moving the magnet on the other side of the backing plate, and a hand-grip is provided to facilitate this.
There is a need for an improved lighting arrangement